Known con artist scams man, woman out of thousands

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) — Two victims of a scam in the CSRA are speaking out after they were duped out of thousands of dollars.

It was an investment with a major payout. “The whole concept behind it was to buy the ticket a cheap price and sell it at a higher price,” one victim told NewsChannel 6’s Shawn Cabbagestalk.

A man and woman in the Augusta-area say they have been victims of Cynthia O’Tyson. They did not want to be identified but told Shawn about an investment opportunity involving sporting events that was cooked up by O’Tyson. The victims would purchase the tickets and O’Tyson would sell them for more than the victims paid — causing a major return back for those involved in the endeavor. The man said that he paid a total of $4,000 between March 2019 and November 2019.

“I was forced to be 90 days behind on my home mortgage and 90 days behind on my vehicle,” the man said. “It ruined my credit score from 670 all the way down to 499 and daily is going down. I don’t know if she took taking my social security number and try to do anything. I’m quite sure some more things gonna come out,” he added.

The final payout would have been a little more than $99,000 dollars. He never saw the money, was constantly being given the run-around, and never saw a single investor.

“With $4,000 plus dollars I need a receipt,” he said. We’re told O’Tyson never could present them to the man. “Then she asked me to meet her at an isolated place. She also said that she has a niece that works at the DA office in Atlanta. They were going to assist these guys and they had found out that these guys were con artists, odd,” he added.

It was guaranteed, but it never did happen. “So basically they were using these excuses to buy time,” he said.

This disabled veteran was not the only person she duped.

A woman told Shawn her credit has been destroyed thanks to the same type of scam played on her.

“Years ago, back in 2012, I was in a scam. I have problems trusting someone with my personal and business information,” she said.

In addition to the ticket scam, the woman said that she also provided O’Tyson with funds through CashApp to stop repossession of a car.

This is not the first time O’Tyson has scammed anyone out of their hard-earned money. A pull of her public records shows a number of cases involving her and financial-type offenses. “Because she worked at a five star CPA tax service, I Googled that and, that was my reassurance and I trusted her,” the woman said. “There are people who are small business owners that have millions of dollars and these businesses are very known and this lady has access to every everything they do,” she added.

Shawn also had the opportunity to speak with family members of O’Tyson and the woman he spoke with said that she feels like she’s failed.But she realizes that she did not cause the 54-year-old to go on the path that she has chosen. That family member also added that O’Tyson was a good person but was caught up wanting to be rich.

Count on NewsChannel 6 to keep you updated on this developing story.

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